Responding to a Call to Action Contained in an Audio Signal

• US 20100114580A1
• Filed: 11/05/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: McClendon, Philip Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,370,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/00 Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility G10L19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means

Abstract

An audio signal is monitored to detect the presence of a call to action contained therein. Addressing information is automatically extracted from the call to action and stored on a storage medium. An electronic message responding to the call to action may be automatically prepared, or a contact field may be automatically populated for inclusion in a contact list. The audio signal may be digitized or obtained from a broadcast transmission, and the process may be performed by a mobile communication device, a central system, or a combination thereof.

Claims

1. A method for responding to a call to action contained in an audio signal, the method comprising:

monitoring an audio signal;

processing at least a portion of the audio signal to recognize spoken content therein;

detecting a call to action in the recognized spoken content;

parsing the call to action to extract addressing information therefrom; and

storing the extracted addressing information on a storage medium.

2. The method of claim 1 including the step of automatically preparing an electronic message responding to the call to action using the extracted addressing information.

3. The method of claim 2 including the steps of parsing the call to action to extract response content information therefrom and pre-populating the electronic message with the response content information.

4. The method of claim 1 including the step of automatically populating a contact field for inclusion in a contact list using the extracted addressing information.

5. The method of claim 4 including the steps of parsing the call to action to extract response content information therefrom and pre-populating the contact field with the response content information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the storage medium is a database accessible by a user through a remote terminal connected to the Internet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring, processing and detecting are performed on a mobile communication device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a continuous buffer of the audio signal is maintained by the mobile communication device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein responsive to a call to action being detected, at least a portion of the buffer is transmitted to a central server which performs the parsing and sends the extracted addressing information to the mobile communication device.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the parsing is performed on the mobile communication device.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the storage medium is an electronic memory of the mobile communication device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio signal comprises a broadcast transmission and the processing, detecting, parsing and storing steps are performed at a central server.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving at the central server identification information for the broadcast transmission; and

tuning to the broadcast transmission to monitor the broadcast transmission at the central server.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the identification information is sent to the central server by a mobile communication device and wherein the central server sends the extracted addressing information to the mobile communication device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the identification information comprises a digital fingerprint for a portion of the audio signal.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the identification information comprises the frequency of the broadcast transmission.

17. A method for responding to a call to action contained in a broadcast transmission, the method comprising:

receiving at a central server identification information for a broadcast transmission;

tuning to the broadcast transmission to monitor the broadcast transmission at the central server;

receiving from at least one broadcasting entity addressing information associated with a call to action transmitted via the broadcast transmission; and

storing the addressing information on a storage medium.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the identification information is sent to the central server by a mobile communication device and wherein the central server sends the extracted addressing information to the mobile communication device.

19. A computer program product for responding to a call to action contained in an audio signal, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code that comprises:

a processing module for processing at least a portion of an audio signal to recognize spoken content therein;

a detecting module for detecting a call to action in the recognized spoken content;

a parsing module for parsing the call to action to extract addressing information therefrom; and

a storage module for storing the extracted addressing information on a storage medium.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the computer-readable storage medium contains computer program code for automatically preparing an electronic message responding to the call to action using the extracted addressing information.

21. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the computer-readable storage medium contains computer program code for automatically populating a contact field for inclusion in a contact list using the extracted addressing information.

22. A mobile communication device capable of responding to a call to action contained in an audio signal, the mobile communication device comprising:

a receiver for monitoring an audio signal;

a memory capable of storing computer program code; and

a processor for implementing instructions contained in the computer program code;

wherein the processor is operable under control of the computer program code to carry out the following steps;

processing at least a portion of the audio signal to recognize spoken content therein;

detecting a call to action in the recognized spoken content;

parsing the call to action to extract addressing information therefrom; and

storing the extracted addressing information in the memory.

23. A mobile communication device capable of responding to a call to action contained in an audio signal, the mobile communication device comprising:

a receiver for monitoring an audio signal;

a memory capable of storing computer program code; and

a processor for implementing instructions contained in the computer program code;

wherein the processor is operable under control of the computer program code to carry out the following steps;

maintaining a continuous buffer of the audio signal;

processing at least a portion of the audio signal to recognize spoken content therein;

detecting a call to action in the recognized spoken content;

transmitting at least a portion of the buffer to a central server;

receiving from the central server addressing information extracted from the call to action; and

storing the addressing information on the memory.